Musical sounds have been produced for hundreds of years by musicians operating musical instruments by reading music from a conventional music staff and manipulating the musical instrument to create sound corresponding to the music represented on the musical staff. According to the conventional music notation system currently in use, symbols are placed on a series of parallel, horizontal lines, called a staff, to depict tones of the music being visually recorded. The conventional staff consists of five uniformly spaced, horizontal lines and the intervening spaces. Graphic symbols, often referred to as notes, are positioned on the staff on a line, in a space between two lines, in the space immediately above the top line, and in the space immediately below the bottom line. Additional notes can be shown above or below the described position by the use of ledger lines, which are used to show how far up, or down, the note is. Counting ledger lines can be a serious problem, adding confusion to the process of reading music, for both the novice and the experienced musician or vocalist.
Clefs are graphic characters placed on the staff to locate the position of a note that represents a specific pitch. The positions of other notes representing other pitches are then determined relative to the fixed note. The most common clefs are the bass (indicating that the fourth line from the bottom is "F below middle C") and the treble clef (indicating that the second line from the bottom is "G above middle C"). The "C" clef is used on any of the first four lines to indicate the location of "middle C" and becomes the soprano clef, the mezzo soprano clef, the alto clef or the tenor clef, respectively. The "C" clef is used to minimize the number of ledger lines that would be needed for a given piece that would be encompassed by the ranges served by the bass or treble clefs.
Notes are placed on the staff to show both the pitch and the rhythmic or durational value of the represented tone. The note has a notehead, being the body of the note. The position of a notehead on the staff indicates the pitch of the represented tone, and especially the pitch relative to the pitch of the note fixed in position by the clef. The conventional notehead has a generally rounded shape that appears somewhat elliptical. The rhythmic value of the represented tone is indicated by the relative size of the notehead, whether the notehead is blackened or unblackened, and by adding additional symbolization such as stems and flags.
One problem with the conventional notation system is that the conventional staff is used to serve a greater range than the approximate octave and a half it can easily represent, including the use of clefs and ledger lines. To increase the number of pitches available in the staff, a system of key signatures and "accidentals" is used. A group of flats or sharps characters, referred to as key signatures, is placed at the left end of the staff, immediately to the right of the clef, to indicate the set of pitches that comprise the predominant scale. "Accidental" markings are then placed to the left of the noteheads to indicate temporary alterations of the basic scale. Therefore, a notehead located at any given position on the staff could represent more than one pitch. This anomaly in conventional music notation is a historical accident and contributes to confusion in reading music from a conventional staff.
For example, the standard keyboard instrument, such as a piano, contains eighty-eight keys. Each key represents a different pitch. Twelve pitches, represented by twelve consecutive keys, make up an octave. Therefore, the standard keyboard contains keys representing seven octaves plus four additional pitches. The twelve pitches within any octave are represented by a group of seven white keys and five black keys, beginning with the note named "C" and ending with the note named "B." In conventional notation, insufficient space has been allocated on the staff to accommodate a separate position for each of the twelve pitches in an octave. Therefore, the black keys are generally represented using key signature marks or "accidentals," indicating sharps or flats. The use of key signature and "accidentals" is inherently complex.
Confusion is further added by the fact that a note representing a given pitch that appears on a line in one octave, will appear in a space in the next higher or lower octave, and so forth, thereby constantly altering its appearance. Therefore, the musician cannot with complete ease distinguish a pitch by its location on a conventional staff. Complexity in the conventional system is also added because, for the top twenty five or so pitches of a standard keyboard beginning with about "high C," and for the bottom sixteen or so pitches beginning with "low C," notes represented on a conventional staff must include such a large number of ledger lines for representation that musicians commonly get confused, and in some cases, are forced to stop and count them.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that an operator of a musical instrument using conventional music notation is required to process a significant amount of information using a difficult system in order to produce a musical sound from the musical instrument.
The problems with using conventional notation with musical instruments have long been recognized. Some attempts have been made to provide improvements.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 104,393 by Wright issued Jun. 14, 1870 proposed the use of a staff having alternating groups of two and three lines with wider spaces between groups than between lines within groups. The lines would correspond to black keys on a keyboard and the spaces would correspond to white keys on a keyboard. Several alternating groups of two and three lines could be used to accommodate multiple octaves of interest for any particular piece of music.
Joseph Matthias Hauer, Report of the First Conference of the Music Notation Modernization Association, 1988 (July 1991), presents a "Zwolftonschrift" (twelve tone script) that is the staff disclosed by Wright, but having conventional notation drawn on it.
Several problems, however, exist with the staff proposed by Wright, and the use of conventional notation on that staff as proposed by Joseph Matthias Hauer.
First, and foremost, although the conventional staff and notation on the staff are awkward, use of the conventional system is deeply ingrained in the music profession. A multitude of music has been written using the conventional system and practitioners are familiar with the system. There is a tremendous amount of momentum to retain the conventional system.
The repeating group of alternating two and three lines proposed by Wright is similar enough to the standard staff consisting of five lines that a musician could easily confuse the staff for a conventional staff. In such a case the musician trained to use a conventional staff would not be benefitted by the use of Wright's staff. The potential for confusing Wright's staff with the conventional staff is amplified by the use of conventional notation as proposed by Joseph Matthias Hauer. The unwary musician who is concentrating on translating written music during reading may confuse Wright's staff with the conventional system.
Second, the staff proposed by Wright is awkward. For example, for a piano composition that crosses several octaves, many alternating groups of two and three lines would be required to show all of the notes. Reading music from such a large number of staff lines could be just as awkward and confusing as dealing with large numbers of ledger lines used in the conventional system.
Third, the Wright scale requires that the musician must adjust to the visual movement up or down across twelve positions on the staff of Wright to accomplish the same change in pitch accomplished by moving up or down only seven positions on the conventional staff. Therefore, the musician who is used to the conventional notation system could become confused when attempting to read music from the staff of Wright.
A need exists for an improved method for operating a musical instrument to produce musical sounds which avoids the awkwardness and complexity involved with using the conventional notation system.